Forever in a Moment
by Cause I'm Freakin' Awesome
Summary: Fitzwilliam P Dalton the third returns to Tortuga in search of a woman only to find that she's forgotten him.
1. Chapter 1

It was hard to believe that the man sitting at the bar in a popular local tavern was wealthy. Only the barkeep had an idea that the scruff but otherwise handsome British man had more than most of the other patrons. Every night for about two months, he sat there with a drink that needed refilling more and more often as his stay in town lasted longer and longer.

At first, he was well kept. His blond hair was neatly tied back. His fine black shoes and every button on his black jacket were polished to a brilliant shine. He was clean shaven. Slowly, his appearance changed. He stopped redoing his hair. His shoes were replaced with boots. The buttons dulled. He had the beginnings of a beard and mustache.

"You Fitzdalton?" The barkeep asked suddenly.

Fitzwilliam P Dalton the third looked at the man suspiciously. He never introduced himself to anyone since returning to Tortuga. In fact, on his last visit he only introduced himself to three people on the island, and sailed away with two of them. "Why?"

The barkeep handed him a key. "Turn right at the top of the stairs and the door's at the end of the hall."

'_Finally,'_ Fitzwilliam thought as he took the key. He spent the last two months watching the crowd, waiting for the third person to appear. He half ran across the room, up the stairs, and down the hall, but suddenly froze at the door. Fitzwilliam then straightened himself the best he could at that moment. He sighed as he slipped his left hand into his pocket. To hide his nervousness, the aristocrat took a deep breath before sliding the key into the lock and twisting it.

The person sitting casually in a chair in the room was the last person Fitzwilliam expected: Captain Teague.

The Keeper of the Code stood up. "You look awful."

Fitzwilliam just stared in shock as Teague walked up to him. "You're here."

Teague stopped, narrowing his eyes at the younger man. "Aye. I'm here," he replied slowly, as if stating the obvious. "Figured you'd know that. Why else would you be here?"

"I am not looking for you."

Captain Teague frowned. "Try to follow Jack and you won't have legs for much longer."

"Sir, I have no interest in your family," Fitzwilliam said quickly. He looked down at the floor bashfully, like a little boy. "I'm looking for a woman."

"'A woman'?" Teague repeated, his eyes widened in a way that reminded Fitzwilliam very much of Jack Sparrow. "You came to Tortuga for a woman? Surely a man such as yourself should have no problem affording a woman elsewhere?"

The young aristocrat's face turned red. "I mean to marry her."

"Well, you've some bloody odd interests, Mr. Dalton."

Fitzwilliam glared at Teague. "Not that it is any of your concern, Captain Teague, but Rosaline is a good woman. I doubt that she…" he noticed an odd look on the older man's face. It was a mix of surprise, recognition, and…sympathy? It was not what he wanted to see. "What is it?"

"Its fuzz Jack," Rosaline teased as they walked up the stairs.

Jack Sparrow followed, smirking at her. "Say what you will. One day, it'll be a beard."

Rolling her eyes, Rosaline turned half way up. She tucked her brilliant red hair behind her ear. "Say, you know when a bird hatches out of an egg and it has that useless fluff?"

"Aye?"

Her light blue eyes sparkled in the candle light as she turned back around. "Think of that fuzz on your chin as that."

Sighing, Jack Sparrow's smirk faded into a small smile as he continued. Just two months before, he found her lying unconscious on the floor of her small house, cursed. It was just by chance that the Misty Lady happened to show up the day after. It was Captain Teague's idea to sail to Tia Dalma and have her lift the curse instead of trying to find someone in Tortuga.

The price seemed very daunting at first. Rosaline would forget the man she loved most. 'Her feelin's for 'im might kill her,' the mystic explained. Captain Teague agreed without even knowing who this man was.

The biggest shock was when Rosaline awoke and recognized everyone in the room. She remembered every person Jack and Teague could think of. She did have some confusion about certain events just a few years before, but neither man knew about them either. Just to be cautious, Teague ordered Jack to keep an eye on her.

The night before was a particularly troubling night. Jack and Rosaline were watching the stars on the beach when she suddenly sat up and wrapped her arms around herself. She swore she had done that before, with someone else, but when she tried to remember all she could see was an empty space. Speaking to empty sand.

Remembering watching her reach up to her scalp and pull at her hair, Jack held Rosaline's hand in his as they turned to the right. Her hand was almost feverishly warm, as always. It was comforting.

The voice they heard behind the door at the end of the hall caught Jack by surprise. He pulled Rosaline behind him as he opened the door. "Fitzy! What an unwelcome surprise."

Fitzwilliam looked past him. The relief was clear on his face as he rushed past Jack and wrapped his arms around Rosaline. "Rose. Thank god. I thought I'd-"

"Get your hands off me," Rosaline hissed, pushing him away. She reached for the sword on her hip. "Uncle Edward, who is this?"

Fitzwilliam stared in shock. "Rosaline, you know me. I am Fitzwilliam. I lived with you for almost a year."

"I've lived alone for the last five years."

Fitzwilliam was about to try to argue, but then caught a look between Jack and Teague. He turned around and finally looked the pirate captain in the eyes. "Captain Teague, I would like to bloody what is going on."

Rosaline drew her sword. "You have until the count of-"

"Rosaline, take a walk," Teague said calmly, sitting in a chair. "That's an order, Miss Smith."

To Fitzwilliam surprise, Rosaline didn't move from where she stood. "Last I checked, I never signed on to your ship so, with all due respect, I still have the right to disobey any command as I wish."

Both Jack and Teague rolled their eyes and said "Again?"

Teague caught himself and his son acting the same and paused. "If you refuse to take a walk, can you just wait outside?"

Rosaline crossed her arms, raising her chin slightly. She looked very powerful, despite being both the youngest and shortest person in the room. The young woman suddenly reminded Jack and Fitzwilliam of when they met Captain Laura Smith. They both knew that she had every right to just as proud. They also recognized that she was challenging the infamous keeper of the pirate code. Rosaline wasn't exactly trying to hide it.

Teague sat up straighter in his chair, watching Rosaline. Since they were children in Shipwreck Cove, she and Jack had their own ways of being a pain for him. Whereas Jack always preferred to sneak around and get in trouble in the most roundabout way possible-sometimes in such a complicated fashion that it was forgotten that he had been the cause-Rosaline had no shame with being far more direct. Even when she was eight years old and barely knew how to use a sword, the girl had no problem getting in the pirate's face.

Sadly, Edward Teague knew that he was far from the scariest thing the girl had seen and nothing was going to convince her otherwise.

"Then will the lot of you sit?" Teague couldn't hide the annoyance in his voice. "Just watching the lot of you stand there like birds is tiring." He then gave Jack a warning look just as he opened his mouth. "And you keep your smart remark to yourself."

No one saw the woman in the room with them. She was not there to be seen. The only sign she was there was the chill that hung around the dark corner of the room and the constantly wavering candlelight in said corner, like a ghost. If she could be seen by them, she could only be described as a corpse. As she watched Rosaline and Fitzwilliam, a smile slowly crept across her deathly pale face.

The ghost woman turned and glided straight through the wall into the empty, dimly lit hall, where silhouettes of human figures danced across the walls. As she moved down the hall, the dark figures on the walls fell into two lines on the walls. Then they all vanished.

* * *

**Guess who's back?**

**I literally have no idea (rather I have no memory of) where this came from. All I can say is that it's probably been working on itself for a while...**

**Feel free to review this story or send me a message about any of the others on this account**


	2. Chapter 2

"You summoned me again?" Fitzwilliam could hardly believe Captain Edward Teague would actually summon him to his cabin onboard the _Misty Lady_. He assumed that the infamous pirate would want to keep the exact location of his ship a secret from him.

The older man held a bottle of rum out to the former British spy. "Come now. No point pretending you don't drink when you've spent more time at my brother in law's smelly inn than I have."

Seeing no other choice, Fitzwilliam accepted the bottle, but didn't drink yet. "Your brother in law?"

"Grant Sparrow. Don't call him Grant though. He has this awful habit of changing his name," Teague explained as he drank from a flask. He smirked. "Have to keep the added black powder a secret from the wife. She disapproves."

"Your wife?"

"Danielle Teague. She's captain of the_ Troubadour,_" the man proudly said, gesturing toward the door. "Captured her about a month ago. The ship that is. I've been cursed with the woman for…twenty years now? Look at Jack, add a year, and you've the exact number."

Fitzwilliam saw the other ship on his way to the _Misty Lady_. He noticed that repairs on her were almost finished. He also noticed that more cannons were being added. The young man started to get an idea of why he was summoned.

"You seem like a smart boy. Surely, you've some idea of how many guns two ships like these can carry. I've no doubt you've seen the number of weapons taken from a pirate," Edward Teague said as he pulled an ivory pipe with faintly glowing embers from the desk next to him. "I thought it'd only be fair you know what you face should the thought of causing any harm to Rosaline even crosses your mind."

"Sir, I can assure you that-"

"Even if you find your way past me, keep in mind that her uncle could reach the British mainland sooner than you'd cross the Atlantic."

"Captain Teague, with all due respect, have you already forgotten that I told you of my intentions of marrying Rosaline?"

Suddenly, the smirk slipped off of the pirate captain's face. "And I'd root for you…except for one complication."

* * *

Jack and Rosaline sat on the bed in her house. They sat in silence, listening to the shouts from the people leaving the surrounding fields for the night. Rosaline found that she suddenly couldn't let herself make eye contact with Jack. Instead, she watched her hands as they fidgeted with the frayed edge of her light blue sash. "Jack, I don't know if we should…I think I need to be alone tonight."

Cautiously, Jack wrapped his arms around her. "Rosaline, you don't have to do anything you don't to."

"Jack, you know I don't feel the same way you do." She shook herself out of his arms. Rosaline finally looked at him and released a deep sigh. "We shouldn't have even started this."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Can Fitzy even prove anything?"

Rosaline laughed. "Since when did Jack Sparrow need proof?"

Jack pouted, looking away. He didn't want to admit to her that he was just trying to keep her to himself. He wasn't ready to let Rosaline go just yet, and the thought of letting her go to Fitzwilliam-of all people-made him very uncomfortable. He secretly had a not-quite-dream of one day possibly even marrying her himself.

"I might have proof," Rosaline said as she slid off the bed. She kneeled next to the bed and reached under. After pushing aside a small chest, she pulled out a journal. Inside the blank journal was a small key. The young woman then scooted back and pulled up a floorboard. Under a bottle of red wine was another small chest.

"What's the wine for?" Jack couldn't resist asking.

"It's for if Uncle Hector ever admits he's wrong," Rosaline explained quickly.

"I have to admit I have to agree with him. The monkey doesn't need a skirt."

"Polly is a pretty lady monkey and she deserves better," Rosaline stated as she unlocked the chest. Inside was an old worn leather sack and another journal. She picked up the journal and opened it in the middle. Her cheeks turned nearly as red as her hair as she read the page. "Yes…I have proof."

Curious, Jack sat on the floor next to her and looked at the journal. They both sat in stunned silence as they read. Then he slowly turned his head to look at Rosaline, not sure if he was disgusted or mildly impressed. "You two…on a beach…"

"Apparently…"

Jack couldn't resist smirking. "Sounds very interesting. We should try it."

Rosaline playfully shoved Jack away with a smile. "You can try with Fitz if you're that curious. Let me know how it goes."

* * *

"I'm back."

Danielle Teague looked up from the papers on her desk. She was a very plain looking woman, with fair skin, brown hair, and sparkling brown eyes. She sighed as she looked up at her daughter. "He didn't show up again?"

Elizabeth Teague looked very much like her older brother, though she had her father's dark eyes instead of her mothers. She was also much quieter and forgiving than anyone else in her pirate family. It both annoyed and worried Danielle that Edward would leave their stubbornly naïve daughter alone in Tortuga for the third day in a row.

"It's alright Mum. I know Dad is a busy man."

Danielle stood up. "Beth, your Dad is not too busy for his only daughter."

"Mum, I'm fine. Really," Beth insisted. "We can't force him to do something he doesn't want to do."

"He should be interested in his daughter."

"Well he isn't. He's made that perectly clear," the teenager stated in a strangely calm tone. "I just wanted to tell you that I already ate. I'll be in my cabin."

Elizabeth Teague walked down the Troubadour's narrow steps to the second floor of the ship and walked to the former charts room which was serving as her cabin. With a smirk, she closed the door and leaned on it, sliding down to the floor.

She didn't want her mother to know that she wasn't being completely honest. She only gave her father about an hour to show up at their meeting spot. After that, she tracked down and followed the man she liked. If it were anyone else, Elizabeth might've told her mother. She may have even told him herself.

Except that person was her brother, Jack Sparrow.

* * *

**Yes. I am going there with this story.**

**Truth be told, I've been wanting to write about siblings with a complicated relationship for...years? Not sure when or why but now here they are. Don't worry though, this Elizabeth serves more of a purpose than just satisfying that particular goal. I'll try to call her "Beth" just to keep things easier (especially since Elizabeth Turner is in the sequel. [yes there is a sequel])**


End file.
